Chapter 665, Can We Mutate in Bulk?
"Have the ship's systems been adjusted?" Wu Heng asked.
The male technician immediately responded, "The ships docked at the port have had close-in weapon systems mounted. The electromagnetic waves for anti-air missiles have also been calibrated to detect those mutated flying creatures you mentioned."
Wu Heng continued, "Can the skeletons independently perform tuning and installation?"
"Yes! The skeleton trainees can all do it independently. But for large-scale equipment, they'll need mechanical assistance," the technician explained.
"Good. I understand. Go back to your class."
"Yes, Leader."
The male technician bowed respectfully and quickly walked toward the classroom office building.
Watching him leave, Wu Heng headed toward the motorcade at the gate.
He opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. The skeleton attendant followed and sat in the back.
"Let's go. It's getting late," Wu Heng said.
Qi Hancai picked up the radio and gave the departure order. The convoy drove out of the base and moved toward the distance.
...…
Inside the truck.
After driving for some distance, Qi Hancai casually adjusted the radio to a different channel.
As the static faded, a voice began singing.
"Zhao Yanqiu?" Wu Heng listened closely and recognized her voice.
Xiaoxiao's mother.
Qi Hancai smiled, "We decided on a dedicated frequency as the base's main channel. Zhao Yanqiu handles the afternoon and evening broadcasts—talks about the base's development, sings, and chats live."
"How's the response?"
"Really good. She's becoming a star around the base. Super popular," Qi Hancai said casually.
"She has that kind of talent? I never noticed," Wu Heng was surprised.
Qi Hancai glanced at him, "Didn't you give her the class scroll?"
Wu Heng didn't deny it, "I did give her one."
"No wonder. I was wondering about the big change," Qi Hancai said knowingly.
"A scroll doesn't change a person overnight. She probably already had some talent, and the scroll enhanced it further," Wu Heng mused.
Class scrolls are important—but they only set a growth path.
Zhao Yanqiu's popularity likely stemmed from natural talent, boosted by the bard's enhancements to voice and other traits.
Qi Hancai muttered, "I should've picked that class."
Wu Heng reached over and pinched her cheek, "Different classes have different strengths. Would I give you a bad one?"
Qi Hancai nodded, "True. It's just the training's tough."
"Higher levels are great for your figure and physique."
"My figure too?" Qi Hancai instinctively puffed her chest.
"Definitely! Keep it up!"
"Now I'm motivated again," Qi Hancai said, smiling.
They chatted casually while driving.
Zhao Yanqiu's change had caught Wu Heng by surprise.
Xiaoxiao clearly knew her mother well—the class scroll fit perfectly.
She probably wouldn't take long to level up either.
...…
Soon, the convoy left the main road and turned onto a remote path.
They parked, spotting roaming zombies in the distance.
Wu Heng got out and led skeletons to engage the horde.
Mutated dogs sprinted ahead, lured the zombies, and ran.
The dense horde began charging toward them.
Thud thud thud~!
A heavy, chaotic rumble sounded.
The zombie ranks suddenly scattered. A group of mutated black boars charged from an alley, trampling zombies along the way.
Each boar was massive—like a burly bull.
They shattered walls and fences in their path.
With that kind of force, they could probably break a skeleton spear line.
"Uncle, there's a wild boar pack charging at us," Xiaoxiao pointed out.
"I see it. What level are they?" Wu Heng asked.
"Level 7 or 8."
Not above level 10—not too big a problem.
Wu Heng ordered Big Head, "Have the skeletal wyverns bomb them."
Whoosh whoosh~!
The sound of something slicing through the air rang out as skeletal wyverns flew overhead.
As they passed over the horde, a rain of iron pellets fell like a storm.
Boom boom boom~!
Explosions echoed. The lead black boars were instantly downed in swathes.
The second wave of bombs fell, hitting both boars and zombies—blood and limbs flying everywhere.
After two waves, the remaining boars and zombies clashed with the spear line.
A brutal melee broke out.
Remnant souls floated upward again. Glenda soared into the sky, beginning to devour them.
She had been upgrading solo for days now.
But still showed no signs of leveling up.
Level 20 seemed far harder than the previous levels.
Wu Heng's side had the benefit of soul remnants from the zombie world. For ordinary spirits, level 20 might be impossible.
No wonder only Professionals became heroes.
Spirits could level up too—but none had ever reached level 20. There wasn't even a name for it.
Soon, the zombies were wiped out and all remnant souls consumed.
The mutated black boars were dragged to the open ground, filling a large area.
[Battlefield of the Dead] activated. The boar skeletons rose and staggered off to the side.
"Pick out all the corpse cores," Wu Heng commanded.
Skeletons stepped in and gathered all the cores, tossing them into Wu Heng's plastic bag.
Once done, Wu Heng continued casting [Battlefield of the Dead], raising more skeletons to join the ranks.
Qi Hancai arrived with the convoy for scavenging.
After looting, they boarded the trucks and headed back, surrounded by skeletons.
On the way back, over 300 bulky skeletal boars marched alongside the convoy.
Shuffling along, very eye-catching.
Soon, the convoy reached the base.
Wu Heng handed it off to Qi Hancai and headed to the port, having skeletons sail the frigates to Sanbu Port.
Through the previously built gate, they were sent to Gold-Silver Island's dockyard.
...…
Gold-Silver Island, port.
Wu Heng stood at the port, staring at two massive frigates docked nearby.
In the modern world, frigates aren't the biggest ships—but here, they looked incredibly majestic.
They dwarfed every other warship around.
The first frigate had already been assigned to Philipa.
The ship was clean—clearly well-maintained—but had odd decorations.
Colorful flags hung all over the ropes. A row of mismatched shields lined the sides.
The waves rocked the ship, making the shields clatter.
Wu Heng waited at the dock.
Philipa arrived, parrot on her shoulder, skeleton attendant in tow. She swaggered over, "You called?"
Then spotted the second frigate and gasped, "Whoa, you got another one?!"
Wu Heng said, "This one's more fully equipped. Now we have two frigates…"
"Wow, so cool!" Philipa cheered and ran over.
Wu Heng followed, and they boarded the second frigate together.
Philipa looked around—even though it resembled the first, her eyes sparkled with excitement.
Her gaze finally landed on the close-in weapon system.
"Gatling gun? Pretty badass," she said, patting it.
"It's called a close-in weapon system. For anti-air defense."
Philipa pouted, "Yeah right. Last time you said the same and it didn't work."
"This one works. Just order the skeletons when air targets appear," Wu Heng assured.
Philipa saw he was serious and nodded, "Alright. Next time we see flyers, we'll try. Not like we'll run into them over the Emerald Sea anyway."
"Let's hope not."
"True."
She lingered, clearly in love with the ship.
Like a racer getting their dream car.
"Let's go. You can patrol with it later. For now, let's eat," Wu Heng said, putting his arm around her shoulder.
Meanwhile, skeletons were ordered to guard the area.
He wasn't worried about theft—but caution never hurt.
They left the port and caught a carriage back to the island lord's estate.
...…
After dinner—
Wu Heng returned to his study.
Glancing at the three spirits busy with their own tasks, he sat.
He thought back to the black boar pack from earlier.
They clearly came from a nearby pig farm.
While scavenging, they'd found many regular pig corpses there—much more than mutated ones.
But the mutation rate among beasts was far higher than among humans.
Nearly 50%.
That gave Wu Heng an idea.
Could he use beasts or poultry to mass-produce mutated zombies?
"If I can mass-produce, level 1 cores won't be a problem—and we won't run out of enhancement potions."
"It might actually work."
The more he thought, the more worth testing it seemed. He'd try different beasts and magical creatures.
Bring them to the zombie world for experiments.
As he pondered, night slowly fell.
Wu Heng stood up and said, "I'm heading to bed."
"Good night."
"Good night."
"Bye, Uncle."
"Xiaoxiao, try practicing writing—not just watching cartoons."
"Got it, Uncle," Xiaoxiao replied.
Once Wu Heng left, she stuck out her tongue at the door, "Yeah, right."